Motor vehicle collisions are a part of daily life in New York. Every day, there are typically at least a few collisions somewhere in or near the Bronx. Many of those crashes are relatively minor, possibly causing cosmetic damage to the vehicles involved. Some crashes, however, are more severe. Those more serious crashes could lead to someone’s injury or even their death.
New York motorists generally need to carry insurance coverage that includes no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) and liability coverage. The party not at fault for a crash can use their own PIP coverage and make a claim against the other driver’s liability coverage. Unfortunately, those who cause collisions are often eager to avoid culpability. As a result, it is understandable that an injury victim would wonder how they can prove that the other driver was at fault if they do not admit what they did?
Video or photographic evidence
New York has quite a few traffic cameras, most of which only activate when someone runs a red light or speeds. However, there could be an image of someone rolling through a red light if that was the precipitating event that caused a collision. Even if there isn’t traffic camera footage of the crash, there might be security camera footage from a nearby building or dashboard camera footage from either the vehicles involved in the crash or other vehicles nearby at the time it occurred.
Witnesses
There will often be people nearby on the sidewalks or in vehicles who see the entire process of the collision and can confirm someone’s story about what exactly occurred. Witness testimony can convince a police officer, an insurance company or even the civil courts that one driver did something either illegal or plainly negligent immediately prior to the collision.
Mobile phone records
Distracted driving has become a safety scourge on the New York roads. Despite laws against manually using a device while driving, many motorists will still check their messages as they come in or even send messages to others while driving. Attorneys and police officers can sometimes request mobile phone records as a way of holding a distracted driver accountable for their unsafe choices.
Gathering adequate evidence can help someone hold the right party accountable and receive rightful compensation after a New York wreck. Seeking legal guidance is a good way to get started.